File this under "Betrayal Of Trust 101"

[docwebster]

(snagged from murnkay)


A stretched Pentagon is sending unfit soldiers back to Iraq long before they are ready to serve again.

Let's put this in bold, folks:

The army specialist came within inches of death last November 15, when the Humvee he was driving hit a roadside bomb, killing his sergeant. The entire left side of Gunn's body was splattered with shrapnel, his elbow was shattered and, as he lay in the US military hospital bed in Germany, he was tortured by nightmares.

Late on March 23, Gunn told his mother, Pat, that his commanders were putting pressure on him to return to Iraq, but there was no way he was getting on that plane. A few hours later, he was airborne.

Is THAT what you call supporting the troops? Disgusting doesn't even begin to cover it. There is a special place in hell for the filthy bastards that ordered this.

Comments

[murnkay.livejournal.com]

I thought you might want to see that. Inhuman.

[docwebster.livejournal.com]

Why, thank you. I'm not exactly King Of Comments, myself, but that's from being enormously busy. But thank you.

[madsqueeble.livejournal.com]

That's just inhuman...

[javagoth.livejournal.com]

On one hand it's not all that surprising at this point. It's mighty horrifying though!

[realtimemike.livejournal.com]

Having served myself, I understood the fine print, and the meaning behind the phrase "as determined by the needs of the Army." Stories like this are difficult for me to hear without feeling bad for the soldier, but please understand this: This soldier, whether he was looking at the military as a way to earn college money or not, willingly signed a binding contract allowing himself to be put into harm's way. I know that sounds callous, but it's the truth. He was smart for not seeking out psychological help, as that will end up following and haunting him forever, but in doing so, he was put back into harm's way "as determined by the needs of the Army." Damned if he does. Damned if he doesn't.

[gridlore.livejournal.com]

However, I have to ask how good these troops are going to be in the field with half-healed wounds and bad cases of PTSD?

And where are the trooper's NCOs? They are supposed to act as the soldiers' advocate, after all. Were I the position of having an inadequetely recovered soldier returned to my unit, I would put him on the plane out myself.

[realtimemike.livejournal.com]

There is a saying in the Army that, while joked about, is based very much in the truth. There is a right way and a wrong way to do something, and then there is the "Army Way" to do something. It's beyond messed up. Hopefully, an NCO or medical personnel will see the soldier in the field and determine that he is unfit for duty and send him packing. Until then, the soldier in question has to have the understanding that any lawful order must be carried out. There was nothing unlawful about him receiving orders to ship out for "the Sandbox" as we called it when I was in.

There are a great many things the military does that are unconscionable to the public at large. Heck, as a medic, I got to weed out people based upon how serious their wounds were. Soldiers with wounds that in any civilian ER would get them to the front of the line I had to make the choice to set them aside, because it would take to much effort to stabilize them.

The other large problem the military has now is that it's NCO corps is anorexic at best. Fewer NCO's mean more things fall between the cracks, such as this soldier's plight. I can only hope that someone catches him at a battalion aid station and removes him from duty.

[gridlore.livejournal.com]

Trust me, I understand that.. former 11-Bravo here.

[nsingman.livejournal.com]

What makes this even worse is that there are plenty of fresh, rested, completely idle troops in Europe and Korea, in militarily unnecessary deployments, who could be transferred to Iraq instead.

[femakita.livejournal.com]

Again, a plug to put this shit on RN... and maybe a more public, non-LJ blog? (An RN blog?)

In another circle of friends, we have one person who's an actual Serious Blogger that devotes about 75% of her entries to current events. No one knows how she has the time - we don't, but we do have time to read her. As her husband puts it, "she reads the news so we don't have to".

I think that given the current information overload of today's society, people with the time to be nodes in this way are becoming really important. And really visible.